Stars 9u Team Forming
The Shiner Starplex is pleased to announce the formation of its newest baseball team, the Stars, for the upcoming 2012 spring baseball season. The Stars will be made up of enthusiastic 8 and 9 year aids who show a passion and excitement for the great game of baseball. The Stars’ home turf will be at the Shiner Starplex, where they will practice and play the majority of their games. The Stars will likely begin their games in mid February and play until early June.
The Stars will be coached by Ron Johnson, a locally employed physical therapist, whose personal history is grounded deeply in the game of baseball. Professionally, he has worked extensively with a variety of Houston area little league, high school, collegiate, and professional athletes with an emphasis on the care of throwing injuries in baseball players.
Ron has also spoken at the state and national levels on the care and development of the adolescent baseball player. As a player himself, he was fortunate to play collegiate baseball at Texas A&M University. While at Texas A&M, Ron received honors as an Academic All-American Region VI player and was named the Texas A&M Student Athlete of the Year in 1991. An additional interesting note is that Ron grew up in a baseball family.
His father, Mark Johnson, had a Hall of Fame coaching career of over 40 years as a college baseball coach, with 21 of those years being at the helm of the Texas A&M baseball team and 5 years at Sam Houston state University.
The Stars general philosophy and goals will be to provide a positive and safe environment that promotes baseball as FUN. The Stars will seek to develop the basic fundamentals and skills of baseball through dedicated coaching, planned and organized practices, appropriately competitive games, and positive parental support.
Ron firmly believes that coaching these young athletes is much more about fostering their long term development as athletes and young men. Ron passionately states, “Our goal is to develop the kids to reach their full potential and succeed in high school, not just play for wins today. We don’t want to sacrifice anything today at the expense of limiting their ability to reach their full potential down the road”.
For those interested, tryouts for the Stars will be held at the Shiner Starplex on Thursday evening, January 26 from 6:00-8:00 and again on Saturday, January 28 from 10:00-1:00. Players can attend these tryouts at any point within these time frames. Each player will be evaluated on their current baseball skills as well as their general athleticism.
The Stars will also hold in high regard each player’s apparent attitude and willingness to be coachable. All boys who will be either 8 or 9 years old as of May 1, 2012 are more than welcome to attend. Fees for each player will be an amazingly low $20 per month.
For more information, contact Ron at RJohnson@BaseballLTAD.com. or Mark Hybner at mhybner@hybnerent.com or 361-772-5678.
